Sumith Prasad
In the tenth episode of Showtime’s crime series ‘Dexter’ season 1, the Ice-Truck Killer sends a bottle filled with blood to the Miami Metro Police Department. Dexter Morgan and his colleagues notice that a hotel room key is hidden inside the bottle, which leads the officers to Marina View Hotel’s room no. 103. The officers who open the room are stunned upon seeing blood covering its walls, floor, and ceiling. When Dexter enters it for inspection, his childhood traumas haunt him. Marina View is a stand-out setting in the series, especially because of the harrowing sight of the pool of blood to which Dexter falls. In reality, you need to travel more than 2500 miles to reach the establishment from Miami!
The Real Marina View Hotel
Marina View is a fictional hotel in Miami, Florida. The establishment we see in the first season’s tenth episode, titled ‘Seeing Red,’ is a hotel named Marina Del Rey, located at 13534 Bali Way in Marina Del Rey, California. The hotel is situated directly in front of a harbor, which increases its appeal. The establishment is situated in an ideal location in Los Angeles County, as tourists visiting Venice Beach can reach the place after a small stroll. The main attraction of the hotel is the waterfront views it offers to its guests to cherish the captivating West Coast sunset. Marina Del Rey has 155 guest rooms and 9 spacious suites for the guests, with some of them boasting private balconies or patios.
‘Seeing Red’ is not the only ‘Dexter’ episode shot at Hotel Marina Del Rey. In the second episode of the fourth season, Dexter and his colleagues are summoned to a waterfront hotel to investigate the “Vacation Murderers.” After the inspection, the forensic expert encounters a cactus needle with blood outside a hotel room, which leads him to the identity of the murderers. The waterfront hotel in the episode, titled ‘Remains to Be Seen,’ is also Marina Del Rey. Furthermore, this California establishment stands in for Special Agent Frank Lundy’s Bluewater Hotel. The real hotel can be seen in the scene in which Lundy and Debra “Deb” Morgan discuss the Trinity Killer.
Lundy and Deb are shot by an anonymous assassin at the hotel’s parking lot as well. The production department used the rear side of Marina Del Rey to shoot the waterfront hotel-set scenes in the fourth season’s second episode, while the front part of the establishment can be seen in sequences featuring Lundy and Deb. Over the years, the hotel has hosted the shooting of multiple productions, including the legendary murder mystery series ‘Columbo.’
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